The 125th annual Varsity Match, the world's oldest regular chess fixture, sponsored by Vantis and Henry Mutkin, took place at the RAC Club, Pall Mall, London, on 10 March. Oxford University, led by super-GM Luke McShane and Ukrainian WIM Olena Boytsun were widely expected to beat Cambridge, who has only one player with a 2200+ rating, but it was the Light Blues who pulled off a surprise win, thereby making the all-time score Cambridge 56 wins, Oxford 51 wins, with 18 matches drawn.

Cambridge University thus won by 5-3. Jamaican international Duane Rowestruck a heavy blow for Cambridge, crushing Olena Boytsun in only 18 moves, and this seemed to inspire his colleagues. Tom Eckersley-Waites leveled the scores for Oxford, but his twin brother Adam, plus the Cambridge boards three and six put Cambridge 4-1 ahead. This meant that they could not lose but the remaining three boards looked good for Oxford. McShane duly cashed in his 432(!) rating point differential, but Cambridge's bottom board Elizabeth Roberts made light of a 502 rating difference to draw from a bad position to give Cambridge the half point they needed to clinch the match.

The Jamaican international, Duane Rowe, won the Best Game prize for his tactically brilliant 18 move win over WIM Boytsun.